Facile preparation of a magnetic carbon adsorbent via simultaneous magnetization and activation of sugarcane bagasse and Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions

Abstract

Magnetic carbon materials have attracted lots of interests as novel adsorbents for removal of toxic substances from aqueous solution. However, so far the preparation of those materials has relied on multi-step procedures, leading to high costs of production in the large scale. Therefore, a facile method to produce magnetic carbon adsorbents via simultaneous magnetization and activation process in a single step has been developed. Sugarcane bagasse is the abundantly primary solid waste of sugar industries in Thailand. To best and economically use such sugarcane bagasse, a novel separable magnetic carbon composite (SM-BG-0.2NaOH-800) was successfully prepared via the purposed process. Raw sugarcane bagasse was used as a carbon precursor and Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions as a source of magnetic particles in the carbon composites. NaOH is used as both precipitating agent for the magnetite (Fe3O4) particles and activating agent to develop the porosity. The resulting material was characterized using N2 sorption analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM).